Senate Dems punt on spill bill

Senate Democrats on Tuesday punted their oil spill response bill to next month, but the extra time doesn’t guarantee the measure will pass — far from it.

The delay virtually ensures that strategists from both parties will use the congressional recess to hone their plans, talking points and poison-pill amendments for any floor debate, all with an eye toward the midterm elections.

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Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to pull the plug on offshore drilling is the latest blow to Democratic efforts to move energy legislation, beginning with the deaths of a sweeping climate change bill and then a scaled-down renewable energy bill.

It initially appeared that the slender offshore drilling package was a must-pass bill with political momentum, but it became evident over the past week that the Nevada Democrat lacked the votes within his own caucus to force the issue as the Republicans held firm against it.

Some Democrats and environmentalists said they are optimistic the extra time will allow them to revisit the broader renewable energy provisions they had to jettison earlier, in hopes of folding them into the drilling bill.

“It may be a good thing,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn). “Maybe we can get some support for a renewable standard and do a little more. If there’s any hope of strengthening it and adding [a renewable electricity standard], that’ll only happen if we wait until September.”

But lobbyists and staffers close to the energy bill process said that, if anything, the partisan dynamics that led Reid to pull the bill this week will only get worse the closer lawmakers come to the midterm elections.

“Reid has got to craft a very narrow bill. He’s going to have to go as narrow as possible,” said a former Senate Democratic aide now closely involved in the Hill energy debate. “Getting broader just makes it harder. He’s going to have to go as narrow as possible, given that he’s got some Democrats against the liability cap. It’s a terrible box.”

Central to the offshore drilling reform bill was a title to eliminate the $75 million liability cap on damages oil companies must pay in the case of spills and other disasters. Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska), both close allies of the oil industry, made clear they opposed that provision.

The deeply partisan atmosphere in the Senate ensured that there would be no opportunity to amend the bill with a scaled-down, compromise liability title. Reid’s staff had made clear that if the bill were to come to the floor, it would be subject only to a straight up-or-down vote.

Staffers close to the Republican leadership said that if the bill had been left open for amendments, Republicans would have hijacked the debate with amendments designed to prolong partisan arguments and revive GOP attacks on the broader Democratic energy initiatives, including cap-and-trade climate legislation. Many said Republicans’ desire to use the energy debate to put Democrats on the spot on those issues closer to elections will prevail next month as well.

“While the conventional wisdom is the Senate has to do something about the spill, the R’s are licking their chops to get on an energy bill in September and then just bring up amendment after amendment,” said a lobbyist close to the debate.

Both sides blamed the deadlock on partisan politics.

“It’s a sad day when you can’t find a handful of Republicans to support a bill ... that would hold BP accountable for the worst oil spill in history,” Reid told reporters.

“We tried jujitsu, we tried yoga, we tried everything we could to get Republicans to come along,” he added.

For their part, Republicans said Reid failed to approach the spill bill on a bipartisan basis.

“Sen. Reid is predictably blaming Republicans for standing in the way of a bill that he threw together in secret and without input from almost any other member of the Senate,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “Process alone guaranteed its failure, although substance would have as well had Sen. Reid actually brought his bill up for debate or a vote.”

New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, the author of the language lifting the liability cap and the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, sounded a partisan message about the stalled bill, outlining the talking points Democratic strategists had prepared to use in August campaigns after the spill vote.

“The key question is, Whose side are you on? ... Are you on the side of Big Oil, or are you on the side of citizens in coastal communities?” Menendez said. “I hope citizens spend the month of August asking Republicans why they oppose holding BP accountable.”

Environmentalists slammed the chamber for failing to act. “It’s shameful that more than 40 senators are such slaves to Big Oil that they want taxpayers — and not BP — to be liable for cleanup costs from this disaster and future blowouts,” said Daniel Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

“Thanks to the Senate Republican leadership, they are popping champagne corks in Big Oil offices from Houston to London,” Weiss added.

Oil industry representatives said they are indeed celebrating the death of the bill but are likewise gearing up for more fighting in the fall. “We’re glad to see that the Senate did not act on a bad bill with job-killing provisions,” said Jack Gerard, head of the American Petroleum Institute.